1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, various methods for implementing measures to protect a print product from theft, loss, peek, and intentional and unintentional abandonment have been discussed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-86976 discusses a pull printing method. In the pull printing method, a host personal computer (PC) temporarily suspends execution of a print job, and when an output device transmits a certain signal, the host PC outputs the suspended print jobs. Since the method does not need advanced control on the output device side, an operation of a separate server or the like, the method has an advantage that can be realized at a low cost. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-97226 discusses a method in which, a host PC acquires output device configuration information when executing pull printing, compares print job setting information with the output device configuration information, and determine whether to execute printing.
According to these conventional methods, pull printing can be implemented even with output devices that do not have advanced functions. However, a user needs to simplify an instruction to output a print job. According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-86976, when pull printing is executed, a user has only two choices, the user can only allow the host PC to output a plurality of accumulated print jobs at once or one by one. Further, the output device is determined only when the user gives an instruction to execute pull printing. Thus, the user cannot be sure whether a print setting specified on the host PC is valid until the output device is determined, resulting in an increase of erroneous printing. To prevent erroneous printing, the host PC needs to suspend a print job determined as inappropriate by the method as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-97226. However, as described above, when pull printing is executed, a plurality of print jobs is output at once or one by one. In such a limited method, the user cannot always acquire a desired print product.
The above problems will be described based on a more specific example. It is assumed that a plurality of high-speed monochrome multifunction peripherals and a plurality of single function color printers are arranged in an office. When a user inputs a plurality of monochrome-data print jobs and color-data print jobs and uses a color printer to execute pull printing, if the user outputs all the accumulated print jobs, the high-speed monochrome multifunction peripheral cannot be effectively utilized. Normally, the user may wish to use the high-speed monochrome multifunction peripheral to output the monochrome-data print jobs and the single function color printer to output the color-data print jobs.
When the user uses the high-speed monochrome multifunction peripheral to execute pull printing, there are two output cases. In one case, the monochrome multifunction peripheral outputs the color-data print jobs in monochrome. In the other case, although the print jobs are color data, since the output device is not compliant with color printing, the PC determines not output the print jobs of color data. Thus, the monochrome multifunction peripheral does not output anything. Before inputting a print job, the user needs to determine whether he/she gives priority to execution of printing (the user allows monochrome printing of the color-data print job) or to color quality (the user does not allow monochrome printing of the color-data print job) on the host PC. Although the user uses a system in which he/she can decide the output device after inputting a print job, the user needs to determine detailed operations of the system at an early stage. Therefore, usability of the system is very poor.
When outputting a plurality of accumulated print jobs one by one, the user goes to an output device installation location to give an instruction for pull printing for each print job. Seemingly, the above problems are solved. However, under such circumstance, the user needs to understand settings and sequence of the input print jobs before going to the output device installation location. If the user inputs many print jobs, it is difficult to do such task.